The proud owner of an oversized ute has fired back at drivers who want the supersized imports banned from Australian roads.
American pickup trucks have hit the Australian market by storm, with RAM currently the biggest supplier in Australia.
In the last month alone, more than 1,200 trucks have rolled off the production line and onto Aussie roads.
Chevrolet is also seeing sales of the Silverado 1500 pickup soar Down Under.
That has prompted Ford and Toyota to jump on the trend, with the car manufacturers planning to release the F150 and Tacoma in Australia, alongside the popular Ranger and Hilux utes.
But not everyone is a fan of the jumbo-sized vehicles, with some motorists accusing the ute owners of ‘taking over’ Aussie roads and ‘stealing car parks’.
The backlash has prompted RAM Australia and vehicle owners to hit back.
RAM ute owner Adam Davey pointed out there are bigger vehicles than his on the road
‘If these trucks shouldn’t be on city roads then neither should buses,’ owner Adam Davey told Nine News.
The Melbourne motorist hailed his beloved Chevrolet Silverado 2500 as ‘an absolute weapon’.
‘The smaller vehicles get pushed around a lot by the heavy load on the back. With something like this, it’s a lot safer,’ Mr Davey said.
He says the vehicle’s pros outweigh the cons.
‘You pick your place, you’re not going to take this thing to Westfield and park it undercover,’ Mr Davey said.
‘If you’re worried about fuel consumption, you should probably get a Prius.’
Motorists who feel unsafe sharing the roads with the pickup trucks remain unconvinced.
‘If you want to have them and you have a huge property and play around there, that’s fine, but not in the city,’ one woman said.
Adam described his fuel-guzzling Chevrolet Silverado 2500 as ‘an absolute weapon’
But RAM national manager Jeff Barber insists they are ‘very much a metropolitan vehicle’, despite the six-figure price tag, along with massive fuel and maintenance fees.
The manufacturer plans to boost production in 2024.
‘In late 2015 when we started this off, demand then was about 30 trucks a month. Last month, we achieved nearly 1,200 trucks delivered across the country,’ Mr Barber said.
‘They’re not the biggest things on the roads, there’s a lot of other bigger vehicles on the roads at the moment.’
It comes after outraged motorists called out ‘pavement princess’ utility truck owners for using their oversized utes to clog roads that ‘aren’t designed’ for them
Some motorists regard the owners of the supersized US imports as ‘pavement princesses’. Pictured is a ute parked over four car spaces outside a Dan Murphy’s
Thousands of Aussies said they’re tired of seeing RAM drivers taking up multiple carparks that are too small for the American vehicles.
‘Who the f*** let these pieces of s*** into Australia, too long for one car space and too wide for two. Four of these and the Dan Murphy’s car park would be screwed royally,’ one person wrote.
‘I really wish we could just ban them in Australia,’ a second person said.
‘Car parks should have a maximum width barrier like underground carparks do with height. If your truck doesn’t fit, go park in the nearest paddock and walk to the shops,’ another wrote.
Australians slammed trendy massive American RAM utes (example above) for ‘taking over’ roads and ‘stealing carparks’
Despite the growing resentment against utes, their presence is expected to grow.
A fleet of 300 massive Toyota Tundras is due to be deployed around Australia in the fourth quarter of 2023, before the model officially hits the market, possibly next year.
‘Demand for full-size pick-ups in Australia continues to grow, and we believe we are entering the market at just the right time,’ Toyota told Daily Mail Australia.
Toyota Tundras are much larger, more powerful and far more expensive than Australia’s most popular ute, the Hilux.
Tundras are up to 6.2m in length, up to 80cm longer than a Hilux and at 2m in height, up to 30cm taller.
While Toyota previously announced that the re-engineered Tundras would be hybrids, the prototypes spotted around Australia have so far been petrol only.
Likewise, Ford’s F-150 – one of the best-selling vehicles in the United States for many years – is now available to order in Australia.
Despite being almost twice the price of a new Hilux, the F-150 is predicted to become its main rival.
Meanwhile speculation is mounting that the next generation of Hilux, which will be the ninth model in the series since 1968, will also be styled to resemble a new American release, the Tacoma.
It is thought Toyota needs to move the styling of its Hilux towards an American look in order to hold off the challenge presented by Ford’s Ranger and the F-150.
